1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling a volume level. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling volume, in which multiple volume modes having different volume control intervals are set in an electronic machine (i.e. device).
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, electronic devices designed for the listening and recording of sound, can convert a sound wave (30 Hz to 16,000 Hz commonly) within an audio frequency band, such as music, a human voice, and a natural sound, to electric energy and then records the converted electric energy in a recording medium. Conversely, electronic devices can also convert a recorded electronic signal to a sound wave energy and output the converted sound wave energy to a space through a transducer, such as a loud speaker, headset, etc.
The conventional electronic device for sound reproduction is provided with a status in which an interval between the minimum volume level and the maximum volume level, e.g. from Vol. level 0 to Vol. level 10 (with level 10 typically being a maximum level), is set in predetermined intervals. According to the volume levels, a user of the electronic device can control (i.e. adjust) a volume of an audio signal output, which is being reproduced in the electronic device and output through the speaker, as a desired volume level in dependence on surrounding circumstances. For example, in a noisier environment, the user typically raises the volume level to overcome background noise. Also, the user may be sensitive to loud sounds, or conversely, suffer from hearing loss.
However, the audio volume in the electronic machine is controlled in incremental/decremental stages between the minimum level and the maximum level. Therefore, in order to select and designate a desired volume level, the user has to repeat the operation of turning up the volume in incremental stages from the lowest level or turning down the volume in decremental stages from the highest level. For example, the user can adjust a volume value according to the number of volume up/down operations by using an input means for adjusting the volume.
Therefore, in the volume system having a regular volume interval, the volume interval is regularly set so that there is a problem in that it is difficult to immediately adjust the volume according to the given circumstance of the user.
For example, in order to turn up the volume to the desired volume level in a place having a loud surrounding (background) noise, the user has to pass every volume interval in stages set from the lower volume level to the desired high volume level. If it is assumed that a current volume level is 1 (Vol. 1) and a volume level desired by the user is 23 (Vol. 23), the user can only reach the desired volume level through making 23 repeated operations.
In an attempt to solve the aforementioned problem of reducing repeated operations to adjust the volume, an electronic device was designed in which the volume difference between the volume levels is set to be greater than 1 level, but the variance between the volumes is great in such an electronic device. Therefore, it is possible to rapidly change the volume between the volume levels, but it is difficult to finely control the volume in such a device because of the large variance.
Conversely to the aforementioned attempt to overcome the problems in the art, when fine tuning of volume control is desirable in an electronic machine, the volume difference between the volume levels can be set to be smaller than 1 level, making the variance between the volumes relatively small, so that it is possible to finely control the volume, but this design does not rapidly change the volume between the volume levels and suffers from the problems mentioned herein above. If the volume control interval is set to be small in the conventional electronic device, it is possible to finely adjust the volume. However, permitting fine adjustment of the volume introduces or exacerbates the problem in that it takes much time in adjusting the volume from the minimum volume level to the maximum volume level or from the maximum volume level to the minimum volume level.
However, if the volume control interval is set to be wide, it is possible to immediately adjust the volume from the minimum volume level to the maximum volume level or from the maximum volume level to the minimum volume level. However, there is still the problem in that it is difficult to finely adjust the volume.